Larry D. found this 1962 Pontiac Tempest Safari Station Wagon listed here on eBay. There are two days remaining in the auction and the car has a starting bid of $3,500 but no bids yet. The car is obviously unrestored and is located in New Pine Creek, Oregon. The seller believes that this car is extremely rare and unmolested. The Safari line of station wagons were produced from 1955 to 1989 by Pontiac and were produced in both A body and B body configurations over the years.
The interior is rough but complete. The interior is listed as gold but appears to be silver or gray. There is no carpet in the interior and surface rust covers parts of the dash. The seller states that the floorboards are good and the doors open and close without a problem. Most of the glass is good except for the difficult to find vent windows. One thing I always assume when a car is listed for sale is that the buyer has clear title. In this case, the listing states that the seller has clear title.
The engine is a a 194.4 cubic inch inline 4 cylinder engine that was produced by Pontiac and used from 1961 to 1963. It was referred to as a Trophy 4 and was basically half of a 389 cubic inch V8 engine. It generated 166 horsepower when fitted with a “Power Pack” 4 barrel carburetor. The Power Pack option was only available in 1962 and was not known as a smooth engine. The seller also has a 215 cubic inch V8 engine available. The engine is backed by a 2 speed powerglide automatic transmission.
Here is a good look at the profile of the Safari Wagon. Depending on the owner’s preference, the car could be restored to stock or modified into a drag car or restomod. Regardless, this West Coast car probably is pretty rare and is an interesting find.
It kills me to see cars come up on BarnFinds that I would love to own but the timing isn’t right. It’s also within a days drive too! I would leave the Trophy 4 just for the fact it has the HO version of the engine. A 215 would be nice but so would a 326-389 variant however the bigger driveshaft would be needed. 5/8” was for the powerglide but 3/4” was used on the 4speed. The idea was the flexibility of the driveshaft would help to cancel the imbalance of the 4cyl. Engine.
166hp for that 4 cylinder is pretty good! 215 v8 is the aluminum engine?
4 cylinder was half of a Pontiac V8.
Ideal way to motor through an era of high gas prices.
Yes the 215 Is the aluminum V8 whose tooling was sold to the rover group. The 215 lived on in iron form to become the Buick 300.
Technically, the engine is backed by a torque tube, and that’s backed by a 2-speed automatic transaxle. You kind of skipped over the Tempest’s most interesting feature.
If my brain is still functioning after tonights cocktails, the reason for the torque tube was to contain the Pontiac developed bent shaft running in bearings to keep it running bent, which was its clam to fame.
More than likely that 166 HP rating was the old “gross” method of calculation; would probably be around 105-110 in our current “net” method of publishing HP ratings.
Yes, “net” ratings came around in the early ’70s.
Explanation of the unique Tempest drivetrain, front to back.
https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/secrets-of-the-1961-pontiac-tempest-rope-drive/
BINGO, CCf
But, I’d still buy it for the alu buick. THAT I’d
put in my secret weapon (sm light SCCA style vehicle).
To the Q on next use – stock except for what needs mods
after a yr’s driving. Y would any 1 wanna ruin the odd ballness
of how (I think it was DeLorean) put together this early entry into
the down sized market? Love to see it next to the Lakewood as both
wagons were in production simultaneously. Y heck, put the 1st gen chevy
van (’64/6) and the Greenbriar right there fora 4 some as they too were in there by yr. What a buncha oddballs considering how things went over the years…
Do an Arnie Beswick V8 conversion, would be cool to keep the sawed off v8 and a little Blasphemous, but The super duty program by Pontiac is a much overlooked piece of history. I read once that Arniie did a v8 conversion in a pit area; race was scheduled and the parts weren’t ready in time , so Arnie brought the tempest to the track, and the parts were delivered to the track and assembled there. American Hotrodding ar its finest!
Cheers
GPC
Waiting for a grocery getter conversion !!!
When I was a kid my Moms best friend had this very wagon in red. Then decades later I had a ‘6l3 LeMans convertible with the torque tube…..one of the best balanced cars I ever drove because of the half shaft transaxle.
Again I’m not sure how sellers price vehicles because this one will never return the investment.
The old ads touted that 50/50 weight balance.
Rear mounted transmission and front mounted engine is such a great concept I am baffled it was never more common.
http://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Pontiac/1962_Pontiac/1962_Pontiac_Tempest_Brochure/1962%20Pontiac%20Tempest-13.html
This is a great brochure.
Bit of a rare Buick in the background there
No bids? Does this mean the station wagon craze has lost its appeal?
My mom had a new 63 Tempest with a aluminum engine, dad hated it because when it got down to zero or below it wouldn’t start even when garaged ( Chicago area ). I remember it had the automatic trans shifter on the dash, he traded it for a 64 Tempest convertible with a iron block straight 6 cylinder which never gave us a problem starting.
If the Tempest had an aluminum engine it would have been a ’61 or a ’62. Pontiac dropped the Buick sourced aluminum V8 for ’63 and offered their own 326 cast iron V8.
I owned a ’63 Tempest wagon with the slant four. Quite a memorable car for a lot of bad reasons. ;)
My 61 has 4 cly, 4 barrel ,
Little known fact. The ’62 166hp version of the Trophy 4 had four bolt mains.
1/2 of a SD block. Just think you could build a wild Pontiac for 1/2 of the cost. Trick aluminum head, 4 forged pistons and 1/2 of a rod bearing set. Maybe talk Schneider into making a nice cam. I wonder if they still had all the lobes for the V8?
Dad bought a new 1962 Tempest wagon, silver with red interior. Mom took us to school in it. We didn’t have a garage. By 1965, the paint was junk. It was a Saturday. I was 9 years old. I got up from the breakfast table and told dad I was going to play baseball with my friend next door. He said, no, we are painting the car today. I said what. He went down to the hardware store, remember them, where you actually got service and made in America items. He got like a dozen spray cans of silver, some masking tape. He got home. We started masking off the car using old newspapers, another thing of the past, and then dry sanded that car. He wiped it off with gasoline I think and then just started spraying right in the driveway. Imagine doing that today. The EPA police would have thrown us in jail. He did take the liberty of removing what emblems he could and showed me how to do it. The hood had the word PONTIAC in individual letters. For a joke, he put them back to read CITAPON. Ah memories. In 1966, I was 10 and he bought a new white Cataline based Safari wagon with a 389. Loved that car.
When America WAS America!
“But Gramps, wouldn’t the chlorofluorocarbons escape into the atmosphere and kill us?”
“ you’re here aren’t you?”
I have one with a 350 in it. It will definitely get the groceries! I would load some pictures but I can’t figure out how
You need a membership in order to upload photos.